Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/70

 the Ráni of Cheduba, who, having been made a prisoner with her husband in one of the early operations of the Burmese war, was detained in honourable captivity at Calcutta:—

'Living in Fort William in a neat pretty house within the walls, she has liberty to walk about and do as she pleases. She has declined a house in Chouranghee, which has been offered to her. She has written me a letter in the Burmese language and character, in reply to some inquiries I made after her when a child in the family died. She has sent me two pocket-handkerchiefs worked by herself, and most beautifully and curiously, in the style of lace, which she wove with her fingers without any other implement. She is the most industrious little woman possible, always either reading, writing, or at work; never for a moment idle.'

The letter, which has a strange cabalistic appearance, is preserved among the English lady's notes.

We may as well finish here by anticipation the story of this interesting captive. The conclusion of peace with Burma brought her an unwelcome release. On June 9, 1826, Lady Amherst takes leave of her.

'She is very much grieved at quitting Calcutta and us; we have seen her frequently; her affectionate disposition has attached us all much to her ; she appears very apprehensive as to her reception by the king and queen of Ava, and frequently expressed the fear that she would lose her head. . . . The Rája, her husband, is quite a brute; she showed us wounds and scars inflicted by him.'

The last news we get of her is in a letter from Rangoon, in the August following. Mr. Crawfurd